IUCN World Heritage Outlook: https://worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/ Gunung Mulu National Park - 2020 Conservation Outlook Assessment Gunung Mulu National Park 2020 Conservation Outlook Assessment عقوملا تامولعم Country: Malaysia Inscribed in: 2000 Criteria: (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) Important both for its high biodiversity and for its karst features, Gunung Mulu National Park, on the island of Borneo in the State of Sarawak, is the most studied tropical karst area in the world. The 52,864-ha park contains seventeen vegetation zones, exhibiting some 3,500 species of vascular plants. Its palm species are exceptionally rich, with 109 species in twenty genera noted. The park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377 m-high sandstone pinnacle. At least 295 km of explored caves provide a spectacular sight and are home to millions of cave swiftlets and bats. The Sarawak Chamber, 600 m by 415 m and 80 m high, is the largest known cave chamber in the world. © UNESCO صخلملا 2020 ربمسيد Conservation Outlook Finalised on 02 2020 GOOD WITH SOME CONCERNS Gunung Mulu is an extraordinary World Heritage site, combining some of the world's most impressive caves with great tracts of primeval tropical rainforest. Its Outstanding Universal Value is protected by a combination of the site's remoteness (no public road access to the inside of the park), rugged terrain, legislative basis of protection, an Integrated Development and Management Plan, professional management, international research projects, and the existence of a valuable tourism industry. Concerns for the site arise largely from external factors - intensive development up to part of the park's boundary facilitating unauthorised access and small-scale exploitation; the prevalence of forest fires in Sarawak; and the onset of climate change. IUCN World Heritage Outlook: https://worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/ Gunung Mulu National Park - 2020 Conservation Outlook Assessment FULL ASSESSMENT Description of values Values World Heritage values ▶ Spectacular caves Criterion:(vii) Sarawak Chamber, one of the largest cave chambers in the world, stretches 600 m in length by 415 m wide and 80 m high. Deer Cave at 120 to 150 m in diameter is the largest cave passage in the world known at the time of inscription and the Clearwater Cave System holds the world record as the longest cave in Asia at 110 km of mapped and explored passages (238 km as of 2020). The caves contain fine examples of tropical river caves, flood incuts, vadose, and phreatic caves, exhibiting fine examples of all types of speleothems (structures formed in a cave by the deposition of minerals from water) (World Heritage Committee, 2012). ▶ Exceptional natural beauty and an outstanding wildlife Criterion:(vii) spectacle Gunung Mulu National Park is an area of exceptional natural beauty, with striking primary forest, karst terrain, mountains, waterfalls and some of the largest caves on earth (World Heritage Committee, 2012).The daily exit en masse of millions of bats and swiftlets from Deer Cave is an outstanding natural phenomenon; a superlative wildlife spectacle and likely the most outstanding readily accessible example of its kind. Visitors to the park view the phenomenon daily. ▶ Outstanding example of cave geomorphology Criterion:(viii) The park is an outstanding example of major changes in the earth’s history. Major uplift that occurred during the late Pliocene to Pleistocene is well represented in the more than 526.7 km (as of 2020) of explored caves as a series of major cave levels. The surface and underground geomorphology and hydrology reveal significant information on the tectonic and climatic evolution of Borneo. The sequence of terrestrial alluvial deposits provides an important record of glacial – interglacial cycles with the series of uplifted caves ranging from 28 m to over 300 m above sea level are at least 2 to 3 million years old, indicating uplift rates of about 19 cm per 1,000 years. This exceptionally long period makes the caves a valuable data source on geo-climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene (World Heritage Committee, 2012). ▶ Cave ecology (troglobite and stygobite evolution) Criterion:(ix) The property provides significant scientific opportunities to study theories on the origins of cave fauna with over 200 species recorded, including many troglobitic and troglomorphic species and it displays outstanding examples of ongoing ecological and biological processes. (Mould et al, 2013)Seventeen vegetation zones have been identified along with their diverse associated fauna. Some 3,500 species of plants, 1,700 mosses and liverworts and over 4,000 species of fungi have been recorded within the property. At the time of inscription, there were known to be 20,000 species of invertebrates, 81 species of mammals, 270 species of birds, 55 species of reptiles, 76 species of amphibians and 48 species of fish (World Heritage Committee, 2012). Subsequent studies and research have increased these numbers.The food webs of Mulu's caves and the large-scale transfer of food energy from forest to caves by bats and swiftlets is an exceptionally well-studied process here. Many of Mulu's troglobites underground invertebrates belong to very ancient groups that have largely disappeared from the modern land surface and are now represented by a few widely scattered species. IUCN World Heritage Outlook: https://worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/ Gunung Mulu National Park - 2020 Conservation Outlook Assessment ▶ One of the richest assemblages of flora biota Criterion:(x) The property supports one of the richest assemblages of flora biota to be found in any area of comparable size in the world. It is botanically-rich in species and high in endemism, including one of the richest sites in the world for palm species and contains outstanding natural habitats for in-situ conservation for a large number of species. Seventeen vegetation zones have been identified along with their diverse associated fauna. Some 3,500 species of plants, 1,700 mosses and liverworts and over 4,000 species of fungi have been recorded within the property (World Heritage Committee, 2012). ▶ One of the richest assemblages of fauna biota Criterion:(x) Deer Cave alone has one of the largest colonies in the world of free tailed bats, Chaerephon plicata at over 3 million. This one cave also has the largest number (12) of different species of bats to be found in a single cave. Several million cave swiftlets (Aerodramus sp.) have been recorded from one cave system, constituting the largest colony in the world. Many species of fauna are endemic and 41 species are included on the endangered species list (World Heritage Committee, 2012). Assessment information Threats Current Threats Low Threat Much of the park comprises very rugged terrain; there are no significant roads within the park and none of the park has been subjected to commercial logging. Only a small selection of caves is open to the public and infrastructure is provided for the significant number of tourists that visit the park. Three activities - hunting and adjacent oil-palm and forestry development - are current threats. If the hunting is genuinely restricted to acceptable species (wild pig and common deer) then it is probably sustainable (provided it conforms to levels stipulated in the management plan), though at present (2020) all species are targeted. Illegal hunting does occur. The property has significant interfaces with other land-uses that can bring degradation and undesirable access to its fringes. ▶ Hunting and trapping, Logging/ Wood Harvesting, Fishing Low Threat / Harvesting Aquatic Resources, Other Biological Resource Inside site, scattered(5-15%) Use Outside site (Traditional hunting) Penan, Berewan, Lun Bewang and Iban people from various longhouses all have - and do exercise - hunting privileges within prescribed areas of the park but also hunt beyond the prescribed areas. The species targeted are those without endangered status as prescribed in the Sarawak Government Gazette (1974), such as wild boar (World Heritage Committee, 2012), however, there appears to be no recent confirmation of this. Illegal bird nest (black nest) collection, which might have negative impacts on the cave environments including cave fauna, has also been reported (IUCN Consultation, 2020a). However, overall the scale of this threat is unclear. In the last few years, the price of black nests has gone done, which might have decreased illegal collection. In addition, more and more of the local communities are engaging in “house swiftlet farming” in their villages, and illegal collection might therefore be less rampant (IUCN Consultation, 2020b). ▶ Logging/ Wood Harvesting Low Threat (On-going wood production adjacent to park) Outside site Logging occurs in adjacent forests, including the catchment of Tutoh River which forms part of the park boundary. Areas of forest surrounding the property have been heavily cut, with complex road network and logged areas up to the rivers that demark much of the boundary of the property. The access provided to the park's perimeter brings the threat of unauthorised entry and associated illegal hunting and collection of biological resources, an ongoing threat to the property's integrity and natural values IUCN World Heritage Outlook: https://worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/ Gunung Mulu National Park - 2020 Conservation Outlook Assessment (World Heritage Committee, 2012). Further discussion of this threat occurs below. ▶ Crops, Forestry/ Wood production High Threat (Forest clearance for oil palm plantation) Outside site In 2018 forest clearing began in an oil palm plantation concession area along the Tutoh River given to Radiant Lagoon. The concessions (Lots 2 and 3 of Block 0) covers 4,400ha and located 1-2km east of the World Heritage site, and immediately adjacent to Mulu National Park Extension I. A buffer zone of 200m has been proposed between the Mulu National Park Extension I and the plantation. A fact finding mission by a concerned NGO found that by April 2018, 730ha of intact secondary rainforest had been cleared and timber extracted (Bruno Manser Fonds, 2019).